(A/N: The plot, she thickens!! All righty guys, check this out! OMG, it's the 9th chapter! That means I'm almost halfway done!)
John opened his eyes and found himself lying facedown in the middle of a pentacle. A pentacle! Where the hell was he now? He hauled himself to his feet and looked around. He was surrounded by fire, and red stone. He looked down and realized he was standing on a humongous onyx slab. "Jesus Christ…" A whisper passed through his mind.
"Invoke a name that means nothing here if you wish, human… You are food now!!" A group of demonic imps erupted out of the stone around the slab and ran for him, gibbering madly. John growled, leaping over them and off the slab. He landed, rolled, and sprinted off, screaming at the top of his lungs for the others.
A giant demon with flaming horns and goat legs stepped into his view from behind the ruins of a citadel. It was easily twice his size, maybe fifteen feet tall. It held a sword that was almost as tall as it was, and it sneered at him. John swore. He sped up, putting as much weight as he could behind him. He sprang at the demon and slammed into it, hearing bone crack in its chest.
It gave a strangled, choking cry and toppled over backwards. John rolled to his feet, not breaking his stride. He could hear the demons behind him, gibbering angrily. More began to crawl out of the ground, like corpses from a grave. Ahead of him, a shrill scream rang out, fueling him to go faster.
He leapt over a wall, sailing into the air. Below him, Laura was fighting furiously with her claws against a slew of demons. Jamie was cowering behind her. John slammed into a demon, smashing it into the ground with a crunch and a yelp. He grabbed the tail of one and swung it into the other, then fought towards Laura. He kicked, punched, and bashed red, horned heads as fast as he could. When he finally reached her, the demons had almost overwhelmed her. He snarled and swept his arm out, slamming two demons away from her. She shuddered. "Thanks." He kicked a demon in the chest. "No problem." He hissed as a swordpoint raked across his cheek.
"Dammit!!" His hand flew to his cheek where the thin cut was, bubbling and hissing slightly from acid on the blade. He caved in the demon's skull and took its sword, furiously fighting off the demons, now armed with a blade the size and shape of a meat cleaver. HE and Laura fought furiously, but they were slowly being pushed back to the cliff face behind them where Jamie was cowering. A bright flash of golden light exploded in the sky over them, and a voice cried, "That is quite enough!" A huge runic symbol appeared emblazoned in gold on the ground. The demons hissed and shrieked, evaporating into gold dust and disappearing. A floating figure, cloaked by a large blue cape with an elaborate collar, floated down in front of him. "Greetings, friends. My name is Doctor Strange."
A light bulb went off in Laura's mind. "Doctor Strange? As in THE Doctor Strange? As in the Sorcerer Supreme?"
The man nodded. He had black hair, two stripes of white at either sideburn. His mustache-goatee combo was completely black, but the wrinkles around his ice blue eyes suggested he was older than he looked. "That is quite right young one. You are one of Charles's students, yes?"
Laura nodded. "So then that was the disturbance I felt in Mephisto's Realm."
John blinked. "Mephisto's Realm? Is that where we are?"
Doctor Strange nodded. "Yes. Mephisto is a demon of great power… as long as he remains within this realm, he is invincible. Though, he has chosen to help Azazel, and this worries me…"
His voice trailed off, and Laura raised an eyebrow. "Azazel? Who's that?"
Strange looked up. "The demon who started all of this. Kurt Wagner's father."
John frowned. "Father?" Doctor Strange turned his eyes on John.
"Of course. Not to put it bluntly, but did you think Mr. Wagner's resemblance to a demon was mere coincidence?"
John's fists clenched. "Hey, pal, he may have spazzed out a bit but he is NOT-"
Laura grabbed his arm. "Take it easy John… Doctor Strange isn't someone you'd want to mess with." She whispered in his ear. The doctor let out a low, melodious laugh. "You have nothing to fear from me, child. And it is fine. His reaction is understandable, and perhaps my words weren't well enough chosen." He turned, adjusting his cloak, and began to walk away. "Come. I will lead you out of this nightmare."
Laura could tell that John felt uncomfortable in the demon realm. Jamie was perched on his shoulders, and was looking back and forth to find the final member of their missing team. They'd found Iceman lying unconscious against a wall, in human form. He was panting now, and Laura felt sorry for him. Beast was still nowhere to be found. Every once in a while they came across more demons, or a heat-fried corpse.
Laura eventually got the gist of what the place was for (Both through Strange's explanation and through what she had observed). It was a torture center. You made a deal with this Mephisto person, and he took your soul. While she was contemplating this, Strange stopped with a low 'hmm'.
Laura frowned. "Dr. Strange, is something wrong?" The doctor nodded. "I believe we are close to our objective." John grumbled. "Good. The sooner we get out of this hellhole the better." Iceman groaned. "You're telling me…" They tromped up a hill, flames crackling around them. Once she had reached the top to stand beside strange, she gasped. "Oh, my god…"
Flames. Distant screams and shrieks of laughter and howls of delight. Cries of pain. Where was she? Kitty tried to move her hand to rub her face, found herself tied to a post. A cross shaped post. She could feel rough ropes around her wrists. Her head hurt. Her eyes stung when she tried to open them, and at first she thought her eyes were injured too. But then she realized the blood red taint that dominated her vision… was the sky.
Her eyes snapped open in surprise. She was tied to a wooden cross, the wood burnt and blackened, laying on her back. All around her, her friends were tied to similar stakes- dead or unconscious, she couldn't tell. She tried to scream, and found that there were rags from her own uniform tied around her mouth. She calmed herself. She had to look around. Where was she? Where was Kurt? Kurt… She remembered now.
How she had got there… Kurt had teleported her here. But how? Kurt couldn't teleport between dimensions. How had he brought her here? Where WAS here?
A low, black chuckle resounded through her mind, like a dozen of different voices- male and female- speaking at once, some deeper than humanly possible, some higher than humanly possible. . ~Ahh, so many questions. So much hurt. It's simply… delicious.~
A great black thing blotted out her vision. She gasped. This thing was easily the size of the Juggernaut. But it's skin was pitch black, and it's eyes glowed red. Sworls of shadow swam at it's feet, and it spoke again in her mind. It looked like it was covered in shadow. ~Give in to it, Catherine… Let it consume you…~
Definitely a he, she decided. It turned to one side. She saw that it wore no clothes, but had no genitals. It was made only of different shades of black. And red. It turned it's sunken red eyes on her. Eyes the size of Venom's, and of the same shape. HE had light pink pupils, slit shaped. His hair… if it could even be called that… was long, tapering back in needle-like points behind him. It made a fearsome mane, especially since the hairs started out as thick as her calf on his head. There were enough to turn any of them into a pincushion if he tried. A tail swished out from behind it- not a cute one like Kurts, but a thick, long one, like that of a lizard. At the end, four spikes jutted out of it. It lashed anxiously out behind the beast. It only had three fingers, and they all ended in tapered points. No visible mouth, or ears.
She squirmed as it approached, drew a sharp claw lightly down her cheek. ~How easily it would be to snap your pretty little mind…~ Her eyes widened, but another voice rang out, with all the authority and command of a king.
"Blackheart!" The beast's head snapped up. "You touch her again and you die." A familiar voice. Kurt's voice. But not his voice… it was different. More sinister. The beast- Blackheart- snorted and walked away.
~Bah! You think you have all the power, Azazel, but beware. I would like nothing more to break you like a twig!~
Kurt-Azazel laughed. It sounded like two voices were talking at once, of similar tone, but one slightly deeper- and millenia older. "You fool. This body is not my own, killing me simply means unleashing me in THIS dimension… And you cannot afford to have your father call his dogs on you again, now can you." The beast growled. "Do not defy me again Blackheart. Remember who let you out of the prison the Ghost Rider put you in."
~As… As you wish, my lord Azazel.~ It knelt, then stood and walked away, tail swishing angrily behind it. She looked back as something walked behind her. It was Kurt! But… He looked different. Horns were poking out of his forehead, and his blue fur, his blue fur that she loved so much, was stained with red, which seemed to be spreading. He was changing. His tail swished behind him.
"Ah, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty. What affection my boy holds for you. Enough to cause him to repeatedly break my control to keep you safe. Admirable really." he picked at his nails, then leant down and lifted up her cross with one hand. It raised her up, then jammed the pointed end into the ground. "Now we can talk face to face." Kurt was taller than she had realized when he stood upright, for even though she was maybe three feet off the ground, Kurt was looking at her directly in the eye. His eyes had turned completely red. When he sneered or laughed, red brimstone smoke billowed out of his mouth and nose. "Poor little Kitty lost in a Lion's den. Oh, and don't try that cute little phasing trick of yours. It won't work here."
He waved his hand dismissively and walked away. "Mephisto was kind enough to bring what friends little Kurti had not caught here. They're on their way, as I'm sure you'll be happy to know." Kitty's heart leapt. John, Laura, Beast, Iceman, on their way here? They could get them out of this.
~You give her false hope Azazel. Or have you gone back on your promise to let ME rip them apart?~ The beast was hunched over another human. Not any of them. But… he flickered. A human soul. Blackheart mercilessly ripped off his arm, eliciting a short lived scream, before Blackheart turned away with it. Crunching sounds ensued, and the sound of chewing. She shuddered. Azazel laughed bloodily. "Oh I haven't, Blackheart. I haven't."
John skidded down the hill. At the bottom, there was a man chained up. But where his head should be there was only a flaming skull. It was Johnny Blaze, better known as the Ghost Rider. And he was trapped in a pentacle. Demons were dancing around him, chanting in their guttural language. Strange and the others were ahead of him, running (Or floating) towards the circle.
John leapt clean over the rest of them, slamming into the first Demon and making it explode into a pile of red dust like a sandcastle in a powerfan. Green lightning crackled into three more, and Laura tackled another with her claws unsheathed. They made short work of the demons, and soon they had Ghost Rider unchained. "Thanks, really. And I really hate to keep it short, and sweet, but get the hell outta here." He said gruffly. "You kids don't know what yer dealin' with."
John looked at Laura with a barely restrained laugh. "Holy crap. It's another Wolverine!" They both burst out laughing.
Ghost Rider and Strange looked at each other bemusedly. "Anyways…" Strange said. "If we're going to find your friends… we should leave now." Iceman and Jamie struggled up to them. "Let's get out of here." They said in unison. John turned to the horizon again. There was a brighter red light coming from further down. Strange nodded. "That's where they are. Don't worry John, we'll save them."
John started walking after Ghost Rider, who was tromping angrily towards the light. "I know." He whispered to himself. Then he shook off his doubts and sped up to talk with Ghost Rider. "So.. uh… What are you doing in Mefutsinputz's realm?" He asked.
Ghost Rider raised a flaming brow. "Looking for Blackheart." He growled. John was starting to figure he couldn't not growl. Then again, his throat must have been really, REALLY dry. "I'm sorry looking for whom?" John said, eyebrows raised.
"Blackheart. The demon prince of this blasted hellhole. And it's called Mephisto's realm. Get it right." John grumbled a 'yessir' and looked forwards. Soon enough, they reached the cliff overlooking a ruined amphitheatre.
"Oh, god…" Laura whispered. All their friends. Beast was there, too. "Jesus christ, we've gotta save them!" John howled, preparing to leap down.
Ghost Rider's hand shot out. "Stop, you idiot! Look." He pointed. A big, hideous black beast was picking it's toes by a crumbling wall. "THAT's Blackheart."
John blinked. "You're kidding me. We have to face that monstrosity?"
Ghost Rider snarled. "No. He's mine, understand?" John nodded. "All right. Then where's-" Laura gasped suddenly, pointing. "Kurt!"
John followed her gaze. What he saw made him shiver. "That CAN'T be Kurt." His fur was almost completely red. Ram's horns curled from his brow. He was robed in thick red smoke, almost solid. Strange nodded sadly. "I'm afraid it is, my friend." John's hands curled into fists. "We've GOT to save him. ALL of him. And the rest of them." He said. Laura put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, John, we will." John nodded. "Let's get them, and get the hel out of this… mefumblebum's realm." Ghost Rider smirked. "Well, we're going to need a plan…"
"I vant to rip off your head." A laugh. "Good. Fuel me with your anger. You're not going anywhere, young man."
Kurt was bound in chains. There was nothing but blackness around him, and a sneering red demon in front of him. "You could be so much more, Kurti. So much more. But you're content to stay with these knuckle-dragging sop monkeys. Pah. You make me sick."
The demon spat into the dark. "You're not even half human. Not like you thought. You're half mutant, half demon. Oh, your mother didn't know, of course. Not sure how she'd react if she found out. But you can attribute my flawless possesion of your body to your mother's genes."
Kurt snarled, struggling against his restraints. "I'm going to KILL you vhen I get out of zhis!!" He shrieked hoarsely.
Azazel merely laughed. "No, Kurti. If you try to escape then I'll kill you. And first I'll kill your little kitty. Understand?" Kurt instantly fell limp. "I… yes, father."
"Good boy."
(A/N: Sorry for the super delay but I'm seriously swamped. Well here it is… the super longass chapter. Next chapter ties off the Mephisto's Realm story arc, and then the next ten chapters will be for the Hellfire. Peace, I'm out!!)